The ashen night sky above Force H is now well lit with nurous star shells. So bright is the illumination that so unfortunate Erusean sailors experience temporary blindness, their eyes having grown too used to the dim lighting of their surroundings. Force H is not just caught off guard; they're well exposed in this canvas of cascading rays. Erusean Vice Admiral Jas Sorville, for all of his prior preparations, is forced to admit that his naval force is not as ready as he would have wished for.
Force H and its assigned convoy of troop transports are sailing slowly in the Southeast heading. And whatever that fired the star shells earlier was spotted directly North of their current location. This imdiately put Force H at a disadvantageous position, with its rear exposed toward the enemy. Knowing this and that the star shells are but a re appetizer, Admiral Sorville must act, and fast, for there is little ti to ponder the ramifications.
"Combat fleet to cruising speed and adjust heading to bearing 95! All transport vessels are to imdiately turn southward before sailing the hell back to Gibraltar!"
"But Admiral! What about the escort for the convoy? What about the boarding parties?" Sorville's Executive Officer asks in concern and wariness.
"The whole operation is a bust, just as I expected!" Sorville snaps back as he curls his fist while looking in the direction of rs-el-Kébir. By this point, the helmsman has already spun the steering wheel to turn HMS Valiant around, and her engine room has already given her a boost. "The last thing we need right now is to babysit a bunch of deadweights! And even when we ditch the convoy, we don't have the speed to outrun whatever the Ustians have fielded. All we can do now is to take the fight to them and seek a chance to break through, or else we all will be eting Davy Jones! As for the transport and the boarding parties, pray that they all will have much better luck surviving this ss than we."
"... Understood, Admiral." The XO gulps, nodding grimly before starting to bark the appropriate orders on Sorville's behalf.
"All warships, brace for incoming fire." The warning ca not a mont too soon as the whistling of naval artillery shells could be heard in the air above the Erusean warships. As the shells start landing in the wake of Force H, the XO continues. "Cruisers are to launch a salvo of star shells while the destroyers are to form a screen around the port and starboard of the combat fleet. All other battleships are to load armor-piercing and prepare for counterfire!"
While the minimally ard convoy ships of Force H detach and sail alone in a Western heading, its main force trudges along in the opposite direction. Currently, Sorville's battle fleet is centered around HMS Valiant, the Queen Elizabeth-class battleship. The other three Revenge-class battleships are sailing behind the Valiant in a line formation. Flanking on both sides of this battleship column are the cruisers, and farther beyond these are the destroyer escorts. It's a textbook fleet formation, and one that will give Force H the heaviest broadside they can bring to bear against the Northern Ustian naval formation. As the four Erusean battleships are loading up their main guns, the two cruisers, HMS Arethusa and HMS Erald, have already fired a barrage of star shells after a bit of guesswork. When the shells explode in a dazzling display of slow-falling fireworks, what is revealed in the North is enough to give the Eruseans the chill.
"Goodness gracious..." Admiral Sorville spits the words out, his knuckles turning white as he grips the binoculars through which he is viewing.
Just the Northern Ustian warships already outnumbered Sorville's. And despite the hazy lighting and the rolling waves, the Erusean Vice Admiral can see quite well the five distinct shapes that tower above their escorts. Capital ships, all five of them. Sorville doesn't know yet what classification of battleships those are, whether the formation is composed of the Bretagne-class or the most modern in the region, which is the Richelieu-class. Regardless, he's still clearly outgunned, if the intel on the number of Ustian guns matched up. This is not even ntioning the multiple escorts surrounding the Ustian battleships that are sailing line abreast.
"This is not good..." The Vice Admiral mutters, mostly to himself, but his XO still manages to catch it and shiver.
Conventionally, battleships favor broadside firing. This is the only way for them to get both their aft and front guns to bear on a singular target. However, a broadside attack will inadvertently give your enemy a big side of a barn to retaliate against. As such, modern Ustian battleships, the Richelieus-class and Dunkerque-class, seek to remove that weakness by having all of their main guns placed in the fore of their warships. In this circumstance, where the Ustians are positioned behind the Eruseans, this is where the two classes shine the most, as they don't have to worry about any enemy behind them.
On a side note, this manner of formational arrangent all but confirms that the five capital ships the Ustians are bringing are all the modern ones. This all but guarantees that Sorville's slow battleships, going only as fast as 21 knots for the Revenge-class and 24 knots for HMS Valiant, won't be able to outpace them. The Ustians can comfortably keep their pace behind Force H so that the Erusean warships are always staring down the muzzles of their executioners.
Interestingly enough, both the Erusean and the Ustian Admirals seem to reach a tacit understanding that cannon fires speak louder than words. Neither of them initiates radio contact, even though the airwaves are clear, and imdiately go all in on the firepower option.
However, even before the Erusean battleships can finish aligning their guns for ranging shots, the five capital ships of the Ustians, and their escorts, are already sending yet another full force salvo. Having too many shells in the air and proper range estimation, the Ustian warships start bracketing Force H's vessels, with so shells exploding dangerously close to the broadside of so of the targets.
As fragntations start peppering the armor belts of the Valiant, the return fire from the Erusean flagship cos almost imdiately. The Valiant's hull rumbles with multiple roars of her eight 381 mm guns. The three Revenge-class sailing behind her also sound their own horns of war as waves part and air blasts rattle the sailors of Force H. At this mont, there are thirty-two 381 mm shells soaring for the Ustian capital ships.
Ironically, the old Erusean battleships beat the Ustians in gun caliber, albeit by only a small margin. Still, it's not about who's having the biggest gun in the block. It's about who will be the most effective at what they're doing.
Landing in large splashes, the shells from the Erusean side fall much too short of the preying Ustian battleships. A re mont later, the Ustians retaliate with their own big guns. By this point, it's turned into an official gunnery duel between the two forr allies. However, it's clear for all to see that the Eruseans are at a disadvantage from the get-go. They're too big and too slow a target with their broadside requirent, while the Ustian capital ships have too slim a targeting profile for a lucky hit. Sothing must be done to upset this tilt matchup, and fast. The longer this drags on, the bigger the chance for the Ustians to earn first blood.
Vice Admiral Sorville ponders deeply before imdiately issuing orders for the mobilization of the destroyers. He has two Squadrons of destroyers, with one on each flank of Force H. Sorville plans to have the destroyers on the port side detach from their screening duty and sail for a torpedo and harassnt attack. The goal is to disrupt the Ustian formation, lowering the accuracy and the density of their firepower, and if possible, score a good torpedo hit or two. Screening duty of the port side will have to be taken by the starboard side destroyers by splitting the Squadron in half. Thinking thus far, however, Admiral Sorville knows that he will be sending so of the destroyers to their potential doom. After all, it's known that the Ustian destroyers overwheld their Erusean counterparts in every tric.
Once the relevant orders are given to his XO to disseminate across Force H, Sorville returns to scan the opposing fleet. The Vice Admiral, however, nearly curses aloud when the Ustians mirror his tactic, only that they send out warships even faster than he can.
"Belay that order!" Sorville barks. "I want the destroyers to maintain their screening duty! Use everything they have to eliminate the opposition's fast attack vessels at all costs. Pay close attention to incoming torpedoes. Pull the Arethusa and the Erald out of formation to support our destroyers!"
"Understood, Admiral!"
Monts later, blazingly fast exchanges of naval artillery ensue between the classes of destroyers on both sides: Six destroyers from the Erusean side versus the eight from the Ustians. It's clear from the first exchange, however, that the Ustians can output way too many leads and do so at an extrely fast rate. The balance only tilts to favor the Erusean side when their two light cruisers join the fray. Nonetheless, the first blood cos faster than anyone expects when HMS Keppel, a Great War era relic and a Thorneycroft-class destroyer leader, takes two hits to her rear barbette, completely destroying the structure and the gun turret on top of it. Then, as if a dam's been busted open, the other five destroyers start taking on multiple hits as well. So of the hits are quite nasty, while others are only minor or costic damage.
The modern Ustian Le Fantasque-class and Mogador-class destroyers are ard with the powerful 139 mm guns, a caliber that is the largest to be used on a destroyer platform. These guns have longer range and are more accurate than the Eruseans' 120 mm guns. When paired with a better suite of range finders, stabilizers, and even assisted loaders, the 139 mm guns perform more efficiently than their Erusean opposition. It isn't wrong to call these Ustian destroyers 'pseudo-cruisers' for their firepower is just that great. Nonetheless, as more ti is spent, and both sides get closer and closer, even the Ustians' destroyers start taking noticeable damage. Most of these co from HMS Arethusa and HMS Erald, the two light cruisers with a better targeting system than the struggling Erusean destroyers.
However, whereas the Eruseans have only themselves to stand and fight, the Ustians have ample leeway. The damaged Ustian Destroyer Flotilla calls for help, and their allied cruisers imdiately co to the rescue, harrying a shower of shells on the two offending light cruisers. Arethusa and Erald, being light cruisers, are hopelessly outranged by the Ustian Algerie-class heavy cruisers that accompanied the Ustian capital ships. They are soon bracketed down and penetrated in multiple areas. Already, one can see Force H bleeding hard and fast.
Things seem to look up for the Eruseans when a shell from HMS Revenge, the nasake of her class, lands on the bow of one of her Ustian peers. However, as if mocking the Revenge's attempt, the Richelieu-class battleship with the na Gascogne embazoned on the side, parried the 381 mm armor-piercing shell and let it land harmlessly in the sea. Almost imdiately, in a manner akin to an angry big sister trying to protect her little sis, the Jean Bart, yet another Richelieu-class battleship, sends an 8-shell salvo and lands two shells on the HMS Revenge. The irony notwithstanding, one of the two shells detonated and collapsed the rear secondary tower of the Revenge while the other damage exploded part way into the barbette of her X-turret. Losing her secondary tower and taking damage to the turret drive of her X-turret is a critical loss to HMS Revenge.
While the Revenge is working her Damage Control Party to the fullest, the other three Erusean battleships fire their salvo as well. This ti, however, they score a good hit on a Ustian capital ship, this being the Dunkerque herself. One of the 381 mm shells lands squarely on the starboard side of the Dunkerque, penetrating and exploding just shy of the magazine for the fore 130 mm dual-purpose guns. Lives are lost in the ensuing shell explosion and fire; however, it has done little to impact Dunkerque's mobility and long-range accuracy. For the Dunkerque herself, the wound is shallow, basically a re fleshwound.
As both sides continue their crescendo of artillery, things are much different due West. The troop convoy that Force H has so swiftly ditched continues sailing on a near-leisurely pace to Gibraltar. The lack of obvious pursuers has led to a sense of complacency among the transport crews. However, this stretch of the sea is the Ustians' ho turf. Do they really think they can just co and go whenever they want? Oh no, they all will have to stay to enjoy the finest of Ustian hospitality, and already, the silent servers are circling unseen.
PING
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